McChrystal firing allows Obama to reassert leadership at critical moment

[impik]

It's not impossible that the McChrystal crisis will turn out to have an upside for Obama. While it has obviously created a short-term political crisis, it has also given him the opportunity for a very high-profile reassertion of control at a critical moment. It's hard to imagine a single pundit on either side questioning Obama's leadership in the wake of this decision and Obama's execution of it. In short, Obama finally did kick an ass.

* It's good that Obama gave strong voice to the need to reassert civilian control over the military. McChrystal's conduct, Obama said, "undermines the civilian control of the military that is at the core of our democratic system, and it erodes the trust that's necessary for our team to work together to achieve our objectives in Afghanistan."

On one level, Obama was making it clear that this is about something larger than merely reasserting his own authority. But it was also a tacit acknowledgment that tensions between the military and civilian leadership are endangering the mission.

Obama suggested, without saying outright, that removing McChrystal would allow the healing of this rift to begin. Whether this will bring more success is an open question, but this buys Obama a bit more room to try to unify his team.

* The choice of General David Petraeus to replace McChrystal brings some continuity to what otherwise would have been a moment of potentially wrenching transition. Indeed, Obama took pains to point out that Petraeus helped design the current strategy.

The choice of Petraeus also makes it all but impossible for critics to fault his decision to remove McChrystal. And even though Obama ruled out any change in strategic direction, the Petraeus pick all but forces a lull in criticism of the war among Congressional Democrats, which was becoming a real political problem. Dems will be reluctant to keep up the criticism without giving Petraeus a chance to succeed. This buys Obama more time -- though without a change in strategy, it remains to be seen how much good this will do him in the long run.



http://voices.washingtonpost.com/plum-line/2010/06/mcchrystal_firing_allows_obama.html#more

[msongs]

1. it's ok there's still lots of bush retreads running the show. not to worry nt

[babylonsister]

2. I'm very impressed; he made lemonade out of lemons.

:thumbsup:

[jenmito]

3. Yup-even among the pundits-it was unanimous that this was a stellar leadership moment. n/t

[Kablooie]

4. Does McChrystal stay in the miltary or does he have to retire?

If he retires he would be free to say anything he wants and would probably give the administration a lot of bad press.